Case study 3

$150m+ 700 Resource out-task transition in 10 weeks.

World leading consulting company decides to out-task key operational function of 700 resources in the US and Canada to support strategic focus and financial objectives.  If the deadline is missed, the savings would not be recognised which would materially impact the region’s performance.

Business Challenge

Your client wants to follow strategic direction by disposing of non-strategic functions, and deliver material savings before their financial year-end. They also want to consolidate existing subcontractors, and move from a resourcing service to an out-task service, with compensation linked to tasks completed within service levels.

But to do so you need to agree the deal, define the service model, complete due diligence, get the contract signed, persuade 700 employees they want to work in a new business, transition them, establish the HR and IT services to support them, select healthcare and benefits suppliers, get customer commitment, and make sure there’s zero operational impact.

And oh yes, you have 10 weeks to do it, otherwise the deal’s off.

Solution

2 Phases – The primary objectives were to deliver the savings and complete the transition. Longer term savings would be delivered through transformation, but there were too many unknowns to define the final mode of operation from the outset. Instead the contract was built to ensure that the steps and timeline to deliver the transformation phase were fully defined.

Full transfer – It was clear that the only way to manage this was to bring over the existing management team as part of the deal. It would not only demonstrate their commitment to the deal, but also ensure operational stability. This was key.

Commercial model – The commercial model delivered significant savings up front, then further committed savings over the life of the contract, along with penalties for non-delivery.

Governance – a strong governance model was defined, to manage service performance and changes, and encourage innovation.

How we did it

Team – A committed senior team was established, investing in an intense initial planning phase to define the fundamentals of the contract, transition and service delivery model. The storming and norming happened quickly, milestones were agreed, progress tracked daily, and issues resolved fast.

Communication – A very strong communication plan with staff, wider organisation, customers and suppliers was agreed and rigorously managed.  A “Hypercare Desk” was established, to solve all individual employee transition issues.

Industrialisation – Losing control of employee data, and the status of each person in the process was a real risk. An end to end process for managing the offer, acceptance and subscription to state and local taxes, healthcare and benefits providers, change in employee status, was defined. A dedicated administrative team was built to manage the flow of data.

Definition – Despite the pressure to move fast, the team put strong focus on building a detailed and unambiguous contract. Not only did it avoid issues later, but aligned the teams going in to the transition.

Risk Management – Risks were closely managed, with worst case scenarios planning, and a strong mitigation plan implemented.

Hard work – There’s no two ways about it. It was intense!

Outcome

The transition was achieved on time, and the savings provided the material impact that enabled the client to achieve their financial objectives.

There was no operational impact, with 99%+ employee’s transferred.

The client viewed the transition as an incredible success, and was widely publicised internally, providing further similar opportunities with other operating companies.

The deal was transformational for the supplier worth $150m over 5 years, it also delivered a US field engineering capability, and opened up opportunities with other global IT providers.